OFFICIALS in Hong Kong claim to be gaining the upper hand in the fight against Sars, but China is still said to be greatly under-reporting cases.

The Chinese Government has now admitted to 1,330 cases in Guangdong province, where the disease first developed in November, but it claims to have only three cases in neighbouring Fujian and officials say that there are only six cases in Hunan.

World Health Organisation officials believe privately that China is still hugely under-reporting cases. Despite promises of full co-operation, they fear that many more cases in rural areas are still not being reported.

There was better news in Hong Kong, where children returned to school yesterday as the Government said that it was confident of driving down the infection figures and beating the economic malaise caused by the virus.

Tung Chee-hwa, the Chief Executive, said that the Government was “slowly but surely getting the figures stabilised”, adding that he was growing increasingly hopeful of containing Sars. Mr Tung and his ministers are expected to approve a relief package today that will include cuts in a range of fees and charges, business rents and possibly a short-term loan fund to stimulate the economy.

The virus has infected more than 1,400 people in the city and killed 94. However, the number of new infections per day appears to be slowing. Yesterday 22 new cases were reported, the lowest this month, and the death rate fell by six on Monday, a reduction of about 30 per cent from the peak a few days ago.

Experts said that the figures were encouraging but added that Hong Kong needed to see a sustained improvement. Malik Peiris, a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, said: “You really have to look at trends. The daily figure or two days or three days doesn’t really mean anything. What you need to look at is maybe on a week, two-week basis, is there a consistent trend downward? Then one can feel more confident.”

The news of falling casualty numbers will be encouraging to other cities in Asia tackling Sars. Many of their patients were originally infected in Hong Kong and they may now copy the city’s counter-measures.

Infection figures in China, where the outbreak began, continued to rise yesterday. Authorities reported 157 new cases, bringing a cumulative total of 2,158. However, the British Government said that it had not changed its travel advice, which recommended only not travelling to Guangdong province, where the disease first started.

Hong Kong has installed thermal imaging equipment to screen all visitors. Anyone showing a temperature above 38C will be tested for Sars. The city is quarantining anyone in the household of recent Sars victims, while stepping up efforts to find potential contacts. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said there were no plans to introduce the cameras at UK ports of entry.

“All our screening procedures are taking place in the countries of origin. We have no plans to introduce such tests here,” she said. One of the most effective measures to contain the virus is said to be the closure of many schools. Around 200,000 secondary students in Hong Kong are returning to class after a three-week closure.

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